2006-05-15

Yes, one Oiler win on Wednesday brings us to the halfway mark of the 2006 playoff drive. Go team!

Sunday's game was...crazy. Intense. A game we absolutely didn't deserve to win. Yet we did, and with a 6-3 score to. Which brings us to what would be an Afflec trivia question if this was baseball, and I knew shit about trivia: when was the last time the Oilers scored 6 goals or more in two consecutive playoff games? I mean geesh, Andy Moog was probably in net at the time.

Now onto more serious matters. First off, BlueMile.ca has added Game 4 pictures but has nothing so far from Game 5. Game 4 was the game I actually watched at Thirsty Turtle -- so called "BlueMile.ca Headquarters". None of the people in our party who "flashed" made the site... mostly due to their refusal to bare their breasts except to a BlueMile.ca guy in the storage room. That, my friends, is weak. I hate those girls. And they were in my party!

Apparently not: over at the Battle of Alberta, Colby Cosh brings up a point I had wondered myself after the major police presence on Whyte Avenue. (A topic which I've brought up already) To wit, with all those police out there on Whyte Ave pounding batons into riot shields and harassing people daring to stand on the street corner at 105th Street and 82nd Avenue, and with all the stabbings reported, how many of the alleged stabbers are in police custody? What's that? None of them? I don't understand. All of these police officers out there making sure no hot Whyte Avenue ass or gorgeous breasts make their way into the sight of excited fans, all the SWAT vans parked at every back alley on either side of the strip, and the police blockade at every chokepoint...you think maybe just one of those policemen could have, you know, helped catch the stabber. Or were they too busy dressed in their goofy outfits enjoying life as part of their own little gang that could scare little girls with big sticks and pepper spray?Sheriff Bourne: But our shipment got stole right off that train you was ridin' in. which is why you won't be seeing a parade in town today.Malcom Reynolds:Stolen? Didn't we see an entire regiment of fine young AllianceFederals on the train?- Firefly episode 102 - "The Train Job"

While on the subject, perhaps its time for EPS to learn about the Balloon Effect, whereby the police strategy of going right to the corner of 105th and Whyte and splitting the crowd into two distinct halves was possibly a bad idea...particularly since it turned a happy excited crowd into a very pissed off crowd spreading across the sidestreets of Whyte.

A friend of mine had his own take on the subject. Ever hear of Carnival in Brazil? How about Mardi Gras in New Orleans? Now, think long and hair about this: have you ever heard anybody complain that Edmonton isn't a cosmopolitan city, or that we're not a true international metropolis, or that Edmonton is too small-town or small-time, perhaps that Edmonton isn't very exciting, that there's very little of a nightlife, or that its a city of rubes or anything along those lines. Now, very carefully, ask yourself: wouldn't it help if the police didn't specifically try to stop people from going out partying and having a good time? Would perhaps we be a little more exciting of a city if people were allowed to go out and celebrate a once-in-a-decade event? Perhaps if the police, with the full cooperation of the city government, both major newspapers, and according to the SUN 68% of the population, weren't so dead set against people going out and enjoying themselves we might get, you know, some tourist dollars out of this?

Seriously... when in New Orleans once I explained to people that in Alberta the drinking age was 18, strippers got totally nude, and an 18 year old could sleep with a 17 year old lying about her age and not end up in jail, they responded with excitement over how massive a party town it could be...if only they took a more European attitude towards drinking at the bar (Whyte Ave as an outdoor-drinking zone sounds like a good start).Edmonton: City of Dumbasses

So do I think that Edmonton Police Services used excessive force during Game 4 of the Edmonton Oilers/San Jose Sharks game on Friday May 12 2006 on Whyte Avenue? Yes, and not just because I want to catch all those search strings on Blogger!